Gianna Nannini

Born in Siena, Tuscany on 14 June 1954, singer Gianna Nannini has enjoyed a successful career in Italy since the early 1980s. The elder sister of racing driver Alessandro Nannini, she studied piano and composition in Milan and began her musical career with a debut album of the same name, released in 1976. Her first hit, "America " (no. 27), came in 1979 with the album California, which brought the singer to the attention of neighboring countries. Her fame spread internationally with the album Puzzle (no. 2), produced by the German Conny Plank (known for his work with Kraftwerk) and featuring her first number-one hit, "Fotoromanza", whose award-winning video clip was directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. From then on, with an appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival and in L'Opéra de quat' sous with Sting, the successes multiplied with the albums Profumo (No. 3 in 1986) and its international hit "Bello e impossibile", Malafemmina (No. 2 in 1988) and Scandalo (1990), including the No. 1 of the same name. In 1990, Gianna Nannini sang a duet with Edoardo Bennato, "Un'estate italiana", Italy's official song for the Football World Cup. Three years later, the following album X forza e X amore was released and included the duet "Radio Baccano" with Jovanotti (No. 2). The general acclaim of the Italian public continued with the albums Dispetto (1995), Cuore (1998), and Aria (2002), recorded in the same pop-rock vein as their predecessors, with rich, polished arrangements. In 2004, the album Perle revisited the singer's repertoire with the support of a large orchestra, while the following Grazie (2006), which marked the beginning of a lasting collaboration with producer and arranger Will Malone, reached the top of the charts. The following year, it was an acoustic version of "Meravigliosa creatura", used in a commercial, that brought Gianna Nannini another number-one hit, while she simultaneously devoted herself to the creation of a rock opera based on a character from Dante's Divine Comedy, Pia come la canto io, presented on stage in 2008. In 2009, the ambitious Gianadream - Solo i sogni sono veri (no. 2), included several extracts, including the duet "Salvami " with Giorgia, which constituted the singer's fourth number one. Over the following decade, the three albums Io e te (2011), Inno (2013) and Hitalia (2014) reached number one, while Amore Gigante (2017) rose to number two. This is followed by the Hitstory compilation (3 CDs, 2015) and the original albums La differenza (2019) and Sei nel l'anima (2024).